0399 Verse 522

Original

तद्भावभावितामात्राद्व्यापारोप्यवकल्पितः ।
हेतुत्वमेति तद्वान्वा तदेवास्तु ततो वरम् ॥ ५२२ ॥

tadbhāvabhāvitāmātrādvyāpāropyavakalpitaḥ |
hetutvameti tadvānvā tadevāstu tato varam || 522 ||

As a matter of fact, the operation also is assumed to be the cause only on the basis of the fact that the effect appears when the operation is there; it is far better, then, that the thing itself to which that operation belongs should be regarded as the cause.—(522)

Kamalaśīla

‘Assumed’,—i.e. the ‘operation’, which has been assumed by you to be of the nature of neither the Cause nor the Effect, nor both.

‘That to which the operation belongs’,—‘becomes the Cause, by reason of the fact of the Effect appearing only when it is there’—such is the construction of the sentence.

‘The Thing itself’,—i.e. the Thing by itself, without any peculiar form of activity or operation, may be regarded as the ‘Cause’,—(522)

Question—“What is the peculiarity in this latter view that it is said to be ‘far better’?”

Answer:—[see verse 523 next]